Spring seat construction



April 1943. H. H. HlATT ET AL 2,315,791

SPRING SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 29, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [ma /v Toes.

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April 6, 1943. H. H. HIATT ETAL 2,315,791

SPRING SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 29, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN l/EN TOR 5,,

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Patented Apr. 6, 1943 SPRING SEAT CONSTRUCTION Hayden H. Hiatt and OttoL. Kramer, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application November 29, 19:41, Serial No. 421L984 "4 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to a spring 'seat construction adapted alike to furniture of single seat, such as 'chairs, and multiple seat type, such as davenports, with the primary object of replacing the usual multiple helical springs, requiring frames, 'ti'e connections and supporting 'webbin'gs, .by a construction which is equally comfortable in chairs and of material :advantage in davenports, and will promote equal comfort with great saving in the necessary 'meta'l andcharacteristics of the .wood frame.

Briefly the invention proposesthe accomplishment of the foregoing by providing :a rectangular seat frame which is Lhinged at its front edge and supported by a single spring at its rear edge so that it may yield vertically in .a swinging movement, means being provided whereby the tension 'of such spring may be readily adjusted to regulate the freedom of such yielding movements, and means being also provided to offset the otherwise lack of yielding movement at the hinged edge :and to form 'a seat pad support within the frame, which support is, of itself, capable of a limited vertical yielding movement relative .to the frame.

Other objects reside in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts, and will clearly appear, along with "the advantages of the invention, in the course of the following description in detail of'the best mode thus far devised for carrying the invention into practical use.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a chair embodyingthe improved spring seat of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Figure 3 is a-detail perspective view of the seat frame and its hardware.

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of a davenport showing the individually yieldable plural seat frames, and

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of the front spring pad supports as used in a davenport.

Referring now particularly to the single spring seat of Figures 1 to 3 inclusive, as used in chair construction, the invention proposes a rectangular seat frame consisting of a front rail l0, side rails H, and a rear rail l2. rigidly connected at their ends at the corners of the frame. According to this invention the seat frame may be formed of soft wood, since it is not required as an anchorage for spring supporting webbing necessary in the conventional seat frame having plural helical springs therein.

To the upper surface of the front rail ill and rearrail 12 are securely anchored by nails or other fasteners, the opposite ends of slats T3 in parallel relation lengthwise of the frame. These slats are preferably of hard wood veneer and slightly bowed, in their lengths, above "the frame,

springs [5. The outer ends of springs 16 hook through the apertured inner ends of the anchor plates lT securely fastened to blocks 18 intermediate the ends of the side rails ll. Thus the cross bar is normally held by "the springs IS in aplane abovethe upper surface of the seat frame as plainlyseen in Figure '1.

The front rail I'll of the seat frame is secured at spaced points along "its lowersurface to the upperleaves of the hinges 19 whose lower leaves are similarly secured upon the upper front rail 20 of the seat frame support, in this instance, the chair 2!, which support also includes an upper rear rail 22.

The seat frame is thus mounted to swing vertically on the front hinges, and to resist and 'tension such movement from a normal, approximately horizontal position, its rear rail I2 is provided at a substantially central point with a spring bracket 23. This bracket is preferably of the angular form shown with its body secured to the "lower face of rail l2 and its flange secured to the inner face "of said rail, an apertured portion of its body projecting rearwardly of the seat frame to receive therethroug'h a substantially upright hook bolt '24 with a wing nut 25, for adjusting purposes, below the bracket.

The upper hook end of bolt 24 engages the lower end of a coil spring 26 whose upper hook end is extended through the depending apertured portion of an angular bracket 21 seated on, and anchored to the above mentioned upper rear rail 22 of the seat frame support. Thus spring 26 forms the main yielding control for the seat frame in its vertically swinging movements, a control whose effective tension may be easily and quickly regulated by adjustment of the hook bolt 24 through manipulation of the wing nut 25.

It is obvious that the seat frame as thus constructed and mounted, in swinging downwardly under weight thereon, has the advantage of urging a seated body rearwardly and comfortably against the padded back 28 of the chair or other article of furniture, and that in so doing there is a tendency for the forward hinged edge of the seat frame, which is relatively unyielding, to out under the knees. To offset this disadvantage the present invention proposes to recess the forward portions of the sides of the seat frame, as at 29, to receive the coils 30 and coil extensions 3| of generally U shaped spring wire padding rails 32. These rails extend along, and sub stantially above, the front rails ID of the seat frame by reason of the forward and upward inclination of their angular side portions 33, from the side coils 30.

As plainly seen in Figure 3, the front spring I rails 32 may be made in two side sections wit overlapping cross members, and these members may be clamped together by the forwardly and upwardly inclined extensions of V-springs 34 whose lower extensions are secured to the front seat frame rail l0. Springs 34 resist any tendency of the spring rails 32 to arch forwardly and serve the double purpose of confining the same to vertical yielding movements and clamping their overlapping portions.

Referring to Figure 1, the padding 35 Over the seat frame is disposed on burlap or similar tough fabric 35 across the slats, and it is preferable to extend a section of such material, as at 31 over the spring rails 32 and their intermediate restraining springs 34 in order to anchor a sisal or other pad 38 along and over the spring rails 32.

If a separate or removable seat cushion 39 is used, the padding cover 40 consists in part, as is usual, of the upholstery fabric 4| of the article of furniture, this fabric extending over the padded spring rail 32.

We thus spring support the seating surface across the front of the seat frame in this hinged swinging type of seat frame to effectively offset any disadvantage arising from the vertically unyielding nature of its hinged front portion, and afford all of the comfort, in use, of the usual multiple helical spring construction while avoiding its known disadvantages with respect to frequent repair and replacement of webbing, and at the same time save a very great proportion of metal.

As the seat construction is used in plural units in a davenport, such as generally indicated at 42 in Figure 4, each unit is independent of all others, permitting a heavy person to depress one of the sections without affecting the comfortable seating of a lighter person on an adjacent unit. In all other respects the arrangement in a davenport is simply a, duplication of the chair seat construction previously described, except that the side portions of the spring rails 32a in a davenport are preferably loosely tied as at 43 in Figure 5 so that to a slight extent one rail follows downwardly with a depressed adjacent rail.

While we have illustrated and described what we now regard as the preferred embodiment of our invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention. We, therefore, do not wish to restrict ourselves to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail ourselves of all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an article of furniture, a seat frame hinged at its forward portion therein and yieldingly swingable in a vertical direction on its said hinge, padding extending over the seat frame, and spring members at the sides of the frame having upper angular spring rails in overlapping relaticn, forming a spring support for the forward portion of said padding, extending continuously above and along the hinged forward portion of the seat frame.

2. In an article of furniture, a seat frame hinged at. its forward portion therein, a spring support for the rearof the seat frame, and means forming a vertically yieldable spring rail along and above-the forward hinged portion of the seat frame, said last named means comprising side spring members having upper, angular, overlapping rail members, and a spring inter mediate said side spring members, having a portionthereof around, and confining, the overlapping rail members.

3. In an article of furniture, a seat: frame hinged at its forward portion therein, a'spring support for the rear of the seat frame, a sprin rail extending parallel with and above and along the forward hinged portion of the seat frame including overlapping rail members, and a supplemental restraining spring member engaging said spring rail intermediate its ends having means clampingly confining said overlapping rail members.

4. In an article of furniture, a seat frame hinged at its foiward'portion therein, a spring support for the rear of the seat frame, a spring rail extending along, and spaced above, the forwardhinged portion of the seat frame, havin angular end portions secured to the sides of the frame, including spring coils, and separate spring means secured to the seat frame intermediately of its forward portion and clamped to said spring rail intermediate the ends of the latter.

HAYDEN H. I-LIATT. OTTO L. KRAMER. 

